China News Agency, Beijing, June 26th, title: "Academician of the Sixth Academy of Sciences" Sun Dawen: Learning from the East and the West, applying it to the world

  Author Men Rui

  "Food is the priority for the people, and food safety is the priority. The responsibility and mission of food people is to use technology to make food with high nutrition and safety on the basis of good appearance." Sun Dawen, a food scientist, explained him to a reporter from China News Agency. career ideals.

  Since he was elected as an academician of the Royal Irish Academy of Sciences in 2010, Sun Dawen has successively obtained academician titles of six academies including the European Academy of Humanities and Natural Sciences, the International Academy of Food Sciences, the International Academy of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering, the Polish Academy of Sciences and the International Academy of Refrigeration, becoming the only academician in European history. The overseas Chinese "Academician of the Sixth Academy".

"As a technology and educator, imparting what I have learned, exploring the unknowns of science and improving people's quality of life are my original intentions to devote myself to scientific research," said Sun Dawen.

Accumulate the strengths of a hundred schools of thought

  In 1978, he was admitted to South China Institute of Technology (now South China University of Technology) majoring in mechanical engineering.

"The admission rate for the college entrance examination was only 7%. I deeply felt that the opportunity to study was hard-won, and I raced against time to acquire knowledge." He recalled.

  After 10 years of study, Sun Dawen received his Ph.D. in chemical engineering in 1988.

Considering that developed countries had a leading edge in technology at that time, he chose to study abroad.

  "It's not easy to work abroad. In addition to language difficulties, I have frequently switched research directions. Every time I join a new research project, I have to start from scratch." A few years before he went to Europe, Sun Dawen has been engaged in hydrogen energy in different countries. Research on storage, plastic processing, grain drying, refrigeration cycle, etc.

  This experience allowed him to gradually clarify the direction of future research.

In 1995, Sun Dawen was employed by the University of Dublin, Ireland, to develop food engineering, becoming the first Chinese to obtain a teaching position in the school, and later promoted to a tenured professor in the shortest time, becoming the first Asian in Irish history to receive this honor. .

  Today, Sun Dawen is one of the academic leaders in the field of international food science engineering and biosystem engineering.

In his view, it is the experience of "multi-faceted cross-border" that allows him to take the initiative in his current work.

Great potential for the food industry to help "double carbon" to ensure safety

  In 2010, Sun Dawen proposed the concept of low-carbon food system for the first time, hoping that all links of the food industry chain "from field to table" will control greenhouse gas emissions to the lowest level.

  In the fruit and vegetable harvesting process, the rapid removal of "field heat" has always been a "stuck neck" problem in the industry.

To this end, Sun Dawen led the team to develop a vacuum pre-cooling technology, which uses the principle of lowering the boiling point of water and rapid evaporation and heat absorption in a low-pressure environment, which greatly shortens the cooling time of fruits and vegetables after picking, prolongs the fresh-keeping period, and reduces carbon emissions.

  In 2020, China proposed to strive to achieve carbon peaking by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060.

Sun Dawen believes that the modern food industry has a large scale and high carbon emissions, and it has great potential to help "double carbon". A new path for carbon.

  Technological progress to promote the transformation of traditional food industry is also the only way to ensure food safety.

In his alma mater, South China University of Technology, the Modern Food Engineering Research Center founded by Sun Dawen focuses on food "safety" and "nutrition", and realizes rapid non-destructive testing of food quality and safety, high-quality green processed food raw materials, and emerging cold chain technologies to improve food quality. Shelf life and storage quality make it possible to "eat a mouthful of fresh lychees in winter".

Don't be afraid of confusion, cultivate talents and pick stones from other mountains

  Scientific and technological progress is inseparable from exchanges and learning between knowledge and technology systems. Therefore, Sun Dawen is committed to promoting cross-regional and cross-field exchanges of professional talents, establishing close cooperative relations with Chinese universities and scientific research institutions, jointly cultivating professional talents, and sponsoring Chinese students to study abroad.

  "When talents flow, creativity can be maintained forever." He said that young people go abroad to learn other countries' technologies, cultivate a global vision, and show the style of Chinese youth.

In terms of "bringing in" talents, it is also necessary to improve policies such as precise job requirements, specialization of regional management, and hierarchical information establishment to attract and retain talents.

  Affected by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, many students adjust their study abroad plans and feel confused about the future.

As a senior, Sun Dawen said that confusion is not terrible, it will bring thinking, thinking is the beginning of transformation, and it is the key to seize every opportunity to consolidate one's own foundation.

  "Difficulties are temporary. In the long run, young people should be encouraged to understand the outside world." Sun Dawen said that knowledge is common, but the background environment of its application and the logic that drives knowledge to solve specific problems are vastly different.

"Young people should know more about others while understanding themselves; neither underestimate themselves nor blindly complacent; stick to principles and be eclectic." (End)